Why FIFA player of the year nominee Sinclair is awesome

If you’re a Team Canada football (or soccer) fan, chances are you think Christine Sinclair is pretty awesome.

However, Canadians aren’t the only ones who’ve caught onto Sinclair’s greatness. Once again, the powerful forward has been nominated for the Best FIFA Women’s Player (vote here). In honour of her nomination, here are five reasons why Sinclair is awesome:

En route to helping Team Canada qualify for Rio 2016, Sinclair became the second-highest all-time scorer in international women’s football with her 159th goal. An impressive showing in Rio and a goal that gave Canada a 2-1 bronze medal victory over Brazil increased Sinclair’s mark to 165.

Captain of two Olympic bronze winning teams

At the Olympic Games everyone wants to bring home some hardware, and at the last two, Sinclair led Canada onto the podium, after two stressful bronze medal matches. The women’s football team’s double bronze medals not only delighted fans, but made them the first Canadian squad to win back-to-back Olympic medals in a summer team sport since 1908.

Always comes up clutch

This section could go on forever, but instead let’s go back to London 2012 for one very clutch hat trick. With a spot in the gold medal final on the line, Canada went up against the United States and tensions were high. However, Sinclair didn’t break under pressure, instead she produced a hat trick in a close (and viewed by many as controversial) 4-3 fall to the US.

She’s a Jays fan

Christine Sinclair celebrates after taking her penalty in the opener of the FIFA Women’s World Cup on June 6, 2015.

Have you ever wondered why Sinclair wears number 12? The Canadian chose the number based on former Blue Jays second baseman Roberto Alomar, who was so great he has the team’s first retired number. Since Alomar left the Jays in 1995, it’s clear Sinclair is in it for the long haul, unlike some bandwagon fans.